Jazz Recommendations – 2013 Releases

It’s how City Speaks doesn’t seem quite finished that registers as its most appealing quality… that the grand idea visualized in its conception came so very close to materializing, but fell just short.  This could be considered a flaw.  But the thing about flaws is that, often, they are responsible for some of the more intriguing outcomes.  That happens, here, on the debut album by trumpeter Callum G’Froerer.  There are times when City Speaks gives the impression of moving off in an entirely different direction, one which transcends genre and hints at something quite new, something quite different.

Songs like “Virginia” and the title-track “City Speaks” present the most lovely shimmering guitar accompaniment to gentle surges of skittering rhythm as the low moans and high sighs of trumpet and sax coexist in a tenuous state of harmony.  These tracks have a striking allure, and they give the sense that they could undergo a metamorphosis at any moment, becoming something comfortingly familiar or something wondrously alien.

And then there are tracks that are more conventional.  “Silver Platter” is a mid-tempo post-bop tune, a vehicle for trumpet to do its thing.  Guitar switches to a more traditional role, and like trumpet before it, solos in the range from sedate missives to fiery proclamations.  There are a few bass solos of note, too, but mostly it, along with drums, keeps the soloists tethered to the group dynamic.  “The Thinker” is a bit more punchy than its counterparts, which let thoughts linger in the air, whereas “Sweetness x3” sits at the edge of combustion.  A slow tune with a slow burn, yet this ballad suggests that it could ignite into a firestorm with a snap of the fingers.

There’s nothing wrong with the conventional tracks.  In fact, they deliver plenty of wonderful passages.  But after that very different, very attractive opening track, the subsequent conventional tracks don’t seem quite to pick up where it left off.  But they also don’t stray too far away, so that when the gripping interlude “Trio” arrives, with its fluttering of sax and trumpet and its high pitched atmospherics, it doesn’t at all sound out of place or jarring in the flow of one song to the next.

The glue that binds the album together is “Gemmani.”  A trumpet ballad that bends like moonlight, it bridges the divide between the traditional and unconventional album tracks.  When the song bubbles to life with a flurry of activity, there’s no doubt that it will return to a peaceful state.  And it does.  The trumpet section sounds like it would be right at home in your everyday modern jazz piece, but the way in which the group swells up and coalesces around the trumpet solo provides it a context that is most certainly not an everyday modern jazz piece.

And it’s that push and pull between what-could-be and what-almost-was that makes City Speaks a compelling listen.  It’s what keeps bringing me back to this album over and over and has me interested to hear what comes next.  That this was a debut recording is all kinds of promising

Your album personnel:  Callum G’Froerer (trumpet), Andrew Brookes (alto sax), Brett Thompson (guitar), Alex Boneham (bass), and Hugh Harvey (drums).

Released in 2013 on the Listen/Hear Collective.

Jazz from the Melbourne, Australia scene.

Available at:  Bandcamp | eMusic | Amazon MP3

A few other notes:

There are two bonus tracks.  Kynan Tan re-mixes the title-track, and it works pretty well as the album’s “final” track.  While I’m as interested as the next person to hear other people re-mix cool songs, I really hate when they get tacked onto the end of a proper recording.  Re-mixes are the kind of thing that Soundcloud was made for.  That said, Tan’s remix of “City Speaks” is a rare exception and works remarkably well in tandem with the rest of the album.

There’s an additional bonus track “Rocky Mountain” that is provided in download form if you buy the CD through the label’s Bandcamp page.  As of the time of this writing, I haven’t yet heard it, so, obviously, no opinion provided.  If that changes at some point, I’ll update this review.

An absorbing session from multi-reedist Steve Treseler, who applies an impressionist’s touch to this modern straight-ahead set and, as a result, elevates the recording up to something quite special.  Center Song keys in on three basic forms of presentation, then weaves them all together to where cohesion is king and differentiation is as fluid a vision as passing scenery from a train window.

Your album personnel:  Steve Treseler (tenor & alto saxes, clarinet, bass clarinet), Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Jon Hamar (double bass), Dawn Clement (piano), Chris Spencer (guitar), Dean Schmidt (electric bass), Steve Korn (drums), Meg Risso (cello), and guest: Don Kramlich (piano).

The group of threes can be broken down into general categories.  There are those straight-ahead tracks that swing right along, and then there are others that bring harmonic and rhythmic elements stretching out beyond Jazz borders, flirting with territory defined by chamber and indie-rock.  The third of three are the interludes dispersed throughout the expanse of the album, with most accentuating the chamber music face of this recording… but the way in which they’re presented as little sonic vignettes allows them to exist on their own two feet, and provides them with a life’s purpose that eclipses their role as mere transitions between proper songs.

Of the first category, “Kary’s Trance” is a joyful bop tune spurred on by the shuffle and step of rhythm section bassist Hamar and drummer Korn, and features some nice soloing over the top from Treseler, Jensen, and Kramlich on tenor sax, trumpet, and piano.  “Cold Hammered” has a similar demeanor, but digs in deeper with a bit of a groove.

Of the second category, “11,000 Miles,” with its dramatic builds and surges and its strong melody that goes off wandering in all kinds of directions, is reminiscent of other bands from the Pacific Northwest scene such as the Tunnel Six ensemble, or a bit more distantly, the Brian Blade Fellowship… elements of indie-rock and contemporary folk that, applied in the right amounts and the right spots, create a cinematic wash of evocative imagery.

Title-track “Center Song” is another piece cut from that mold.  Jensen’s trumpet has a soaring propulsion while still keeping close to the ensemble… an effect that’s even more arresting when she suddenly falls in lock step with the steady pulse of the rhythm section.  The solos are all well and good, but it’s the way in which Treseler and Jensen intertwine their lines of communication that makes for the most thrilling part of the dialog.  “Painted Trail” is one of those epic tunes that never seems to end, a succession of solos gliding effortlessly across a sweeping harmonic expanse.  “At Home” is its opposite, bundling its expressions in tight and succinct, while emitting the cheerful tranquility of looking back on good times.

Of those intervals, “Inner Sounds Part 2” crafts pretty lines of melody atop a pulsing beat, whereas “Ultra Tempo (for George Garzone)” is a sudden downpour that whips about violently before disappearing just as quickly.  “Abyss” is the strange quiet that follows that storm.  The brief harmonic sigh of “Chorale” is an alluring intro to the straight-ahead “Cold Hammered,” an effect matched in how the unattached missive of “Interlude” leads into the cover of pop song “Days Were Golden.”

And it’s with that cover of the hit song by fellow Seattle residents Sunny Day Real Estate that Treseler closes out the album.  With its languid sway and brief surges of intensity, there’s a satisfying compactness to this song, ending an album that is typified by stunning changes in shape and form.

A seriously captivating album.

Released, officially, on CMA Records, but this was a Kickstarter thing, so it’s more likely this ablum is Self-Produced.  Creative Music Adventures (CMA) appears to be a music school for children that Treseler is involved with.  Here’s a LINK to learn more about the organization.  Getting kids involved with music is an exceedingly worthwhile pursuit.

Jazz from the Seattle, WA scene.

Available at:  CDBaby | Amazon: CD – MP3

Or purchase directly from the artist via Pay Pal.

Bassist Anders Jormin is, perhaps, best known for his collaborations with Bobo Stenson and Charles Lloyd, though he’s also put out a decent set of music under his own name.  If you browse through the ECM catalog at any length, chances are, you’re gonna see Anders’ name listed amongst the credits of many good albums.  His brother Christian Jormin is also part of the Scandinavian scene, working that same peaceful quasi-jazz sound.  Of course, both brothers joined Mats Gustafsson on the Ornette Coleman tribute album Opus Apus, so it’s not like they can’t jack up the voltage on their music.

But that’s not what their new release Provenance is about.  This duo collaboration between the brothers Jormin is about quiet music for quiet rooms.  Tracks like “And Yet, I Wish You Well,” with its murmurs of bass arco, the rustle of percussion, and the solace of thoughtful, comforting words from piano, and “Laid on Straw,” with its bubbly cheerfulness expressed with a modicum of restraint or “Herding Song,” which takes a melancholy turn, these are the tones that represent the heart of this album.

A few tracks like “Bismillah” and “Villages and Rivers” dig into some upbeat material, but for the most part, this is an album of music that pairs well with sunrises on lazy Sunday mornings… solemn music that respects the silence sacrificed in order to give it a listen.

Your album personnel:  Anders Jormin (acoustic bass) and Christian Jormin (piano, percussion)

Released on Footprint Records & Naxos Sweden.

Available at:  eMusic | Amazon MP3